Well, good morning, brothers and sisters.
Lord, it is a true statement that we gather unto You. Lord, as we gather this morning, we want to hear from You. We want to know what is on Your heart.
So, Lord, we ask that by Your Spirit You will provide that which is on Your heart to Your people, Lord, that we may know of You, that we may be able to honor You, and be a people truly called by Your name. We ask this in Your precious name. Amen.
I have been looking at the verses of Scripture that I am going to share with you for a little while. Actually, I am going to take you back probably six to eight months, to the summer conference. Who remembers what the theme verses for the summer conference were?
Okay, we will do a little refresher course. I am not going to go into everything that that theme was; I am just going to touch on this one little part.
Speaking out of 2 Peter 3, verses 10 through 12—but especially verses 11 and 12:
Since all these things will be destroyed in this way,
what sort of people ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness,
looking for and hastening the coming day of God,
on account of which the heavens will be destroyed by burning,
and the elements melted with intense heat?
When I considered that phrase, “What sort of people should we be?” it kind of stuck with me from the summer conference. I meditated on that and prayed, and the Lord led me to this phrase: We should be a gathering people. We should be those who gather together.
The Lord pointed me to a particular verse of Scripture. It is going to be a familiar verse—you heard it not too long ago—but let us go to Hebrews 10:23-25.
Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering,
for He who promised is faithful;
and let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds,
not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some,
but encouraging one another; and all the more as you see the day drawing near.
Here is the phrase: “Not forsaking our own assembling together.” That word is also translated “gathering together.” I chose to use the word gathering instead of assembling.
When the brothers came to me before the meeting and asked what I was speaking on, I said, “Gathering.” They kind of said, “You mean assembling.” Well, I chose the word gathering because there are a lot of ways that we can assemble, and a lot of ways that word can be used.
I am not speaking about the logistics of how we assemble together, or the way that we assemble together. I am not even going to speak to you as to why we gather. Brother Stephen, several years ago, along with several of the brothers, did a very excellent work on why we gather. If you are curious about that subject, pick it up, study it, and read those messages. It was a very excellent study.
But what I am going to do is talk about gathering together—not just gathering as a group of people.
There are a lot of things that Christian people use as unto the Lord. My brothers in Dothan, forgive me for sharing this, but I am going to share it. We said one day, “You know, we do not have a brothers’ meeting. We really ought to have a brothers’ meeting.” We prayed about it, talked about it, and talked about it.
Then one day the idea came out: “Well, let us get together and have a brothers’ meeting.” The brothers’ meeting we had happened to be eighty miles off the coast on a boat, fishing together.
Now, it was a good time of fellowship and a good time of bonding together. I am not exactly sure that it was gathering unto the Lord as I was thinking that we ought to do. So forgive me for using that illustration.
There are a lot of things that Christians—people of the Lord—put the name of the Lord on and say, “We are doing this in the name of the Lord. We are gathering together in the name of the Lord,” when it has very little to do with the Lord, His purposes, and His gathering.
What I want to do today is look at gathering together in terms of a plan, a Person, and a purpose.
Let us talk about the plan. In Hebrews 10:25, we read:
Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the habit of some,
but encouraging one another;
and all the more as you see the day drawing near.
When I talk about “the day,” what do you instantly think of? The first thing that came to my mind was the great and terrible day of the Lord. Boy, we need to be those people who gather together, because that day is coming.
Then the Lord said, “Wait just a second.” The great and terrible day of the Lord also has another side to it. It is the day in which the Lord receives the recognition that He so deserves.
For the earth and for those who do not know Him, it is the great and terrible day of the Lord. But for the people who gather unto Him, it is a day when our King is honored and shown to be King of kings and Lord of lords.
Did you know that God had a plan for gathering a people together from the beginning? Jim Bydanowitz and I have kidded about this, but I think it is a very true statement. We have been doing the Genesis study, as you all have, and Genesis 2:18 says:
Then the Lord God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone;
I will make him a helper suitable for him.”
You may say, “Well, He is talking about Eve.” You are kind of right. But Jim and I have used that phrase often when we have talked about gathering together: “It is not good for us to be alone. It is not good for us to be separated from one another.”
It is not the plan. It was never God’s plan for us to be individual, solitary, all-on-our-own people. That was never His goal. He looked at Adam in the garden and said, “It is not good for him to be alone.”
I want to take that to a broader perspective. When He saw His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, He said, “It is not good for You to be alone either. I want to create a suitable helper for You. I want to create a helpmate—bone of Your bone, flesh of Your flesh. I want a people for You.”
So, in the Garden of Eden, in the first plans of God, there is this idea of gathering a people together for the purposes of God, gathering a people together for His name.
From that day, it started. As we study Genesis and look at the Old Testament, we see it moving forward. In the story of Noah, He gathered together those who might be a remnant saved. When all the earth seemed to go its own way, He gathered Abraham to Himself.
Out of Abraham came a nation: Isaac, Jacob, and out of Jacob came Israel. Then Moses, David, and on and on, until the day when He narrowed it down again to one Person—and that Person is the Lord Jesus Christ.
The Lord Jesus Christ came to the face of this earth for a purpose. That great purpose was to die for our sins, yes; to set us free, yes. But the most important thing was that He turned this world not inside out, but right side in, so that we could be a people gathered to the Lord.
From the time of Adam until the Lord came, there was always a rolling forward—a glimpse, a type, of what was going to happen. But when Jesus died on the cross of Calvary, He did the work so that we might have a right relationship with the Father and might be a people gathered unto Him.
We think about that very individualistically. We think about my relationship to the Lord Jesus Christ and my relationship to the Father. The Lord loves me and He loves you individually, but He loves us. Do you see that?
The Father sent His beloved Son to die on the cross of Calvary as the only way to redeem a people back into His name, that He might gather us together, that we might be a people called by His name, and that we might be in the union that He desired from the beginning.
After the cross of Calvary, we see the day of Pentecost. On that day, certain people were gathered together in a room. Notice that word that keeps popping up: they were gathered together, expecting and waiting for the promise that the Lord had given.
On that day, a mighty rushing wind came in, with cloven tongues of fire. The Holy Spirit descended, and the church was born. Even in that name—ekklesia, the called-out ones—there is this sense of us being gathered together for the Lord’s purposes and for His will.
In Acts 2:42-47, we see the character of that early gathering:
And they continued steadfastly in the apostles’ teaching and fellowship,
in the breaking of bread and the prayers.
And all that believed were together, and had all things common;
and they sold their possessions and goods,
and parted them to all, according as any man had need.
And day by day, continuing stedfastly with one accord in the temple,
and breaking bread at home,
they took their food with gladness and singleness of heart,
praising God, and having favor with all the people.
And the Lord added to them day by day those that were being saved.
From roughly one hundred and twenty people, to the day Peter stood and spoke and three thousand were added, then five thousand, there was a vast gathering in the early church. The Lord began to gather people.
But the Lord is not interested in numbers so much. Yes, the early church was a large number of people. Yes, they had all things in common, they shared, and they gathered together unto the Lord. But the Lord is not interested in the numerics so much.
Matthew 18:20 tells us why:
For where two or three are gathered together in My name,
there am I in the midst of them.
This is the heart of the Lord for us in gathering. It is not the numbers. There are megachurches out there, and I am not going to speak ill of them. They may be something of the Lord’s will. But it is not the gathering of vast numbers that the Lord is interested in.
He is interested in this: “If you will gather together in My name, I will be in the midst.” Names do not mean much today, but there was a time and place when names meant a lot. In the Old Testament, when certain events happened, even names changed. Jacob became Israel.
But the name of the Lord Jesus Christ did not change. In that name is something. It means something. It stands for the very character, essence, and Spirit of the Lord Jesus Christ.
My illustration earlier about gathering together on a boat and going fishing—well, maybe that was not so much in the Lord’s character, essence, and purpose. Some would argue that the Lord fished, and most of His disciples were fishermen. But I do not think that is what the Lord was talking about.
He is talking about gathering together in His Spirit, gathering together in His very character, in the way He is. Then He will be in the midst.
How many people does it take? Does it take ten thousand? Two or three. Now, wait a second—why not one? The Lord did not say one, and He did not say ten thousand. He said two or three.
Does that mean a group larger than two or three is a violation? No. What He is trying to indicate is that it does not depend on the number. It depends on the spirit in which we meet.
This is part of the plan God had for us: we are to meet in the very character of the Lord Jesus Christ. If we do anything else—if we have ten thousand, one hundred thousand, or one million gathered—it is worthless. But if two or three are gathered together in His name, for His purposes and His character, there is a gathering of great significance and importance.
So much so that the Lord God of heaven, who is seated on the throne by His Father, comes down to be in the midst of that very gathering. Think about that.
Jesus Christ, who died for us, whose rightful place is in heaven, seated by the Father—He comes, and He is in the midst with us when we gather in the very character of His name by the Spirit.
That is not an insignificant thing, brothers and sisters. It is most significant to be in the very presence of the Lord Jesus Christ—King of kings, Lord of lords, your Savior. For Him to come and desire to be with us is not an insignificant thing.
Let us talk about the Person. Who do we gather to? “He who promised is faithful.” The Lord Jesus Christ is faithful. We gather unto Him.
John shared these verses this morning, and I am only going to read part of them:
Therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter into the holy place by the blood of Jesus,
by the way which He dedicated for us, a new and living way,
through the veil, that is to say, His flesh.
—Hebrews 10:19-20
We have a unique privilege because the Lord Jesus Christ died on the cross of Calvary for us, to set us free from sins. We praise Him that He set us free from sins. But here is the reality of the Lord’s heart: it is so that we can enter that holy place, be in His very presence, and have communion with the Father and with the Son.
That is what our gathering is about. When we hear that verse, we tend to think about ourselves individually: “I can enter the holy place.” But read carefully what the writer of Hebrews says: “Brethren, since we have confidence to enter the holy place.” He did not say, “Since you have.” He said, “Since we have.”
It is not only an individual thing; it is a corporate thing. We enter that holy place together. We are with the Lord Jesus Christ as His body in one place.
Let me bring this out in a different way. Those who know me well know that I am kind of an odd fellow, so bear with me. Let us consider 1 Corinthians 1:9-13:
God is faithful, through whom ye were called into the fellowship of His Son Jesus Christ our Lord.
Now I beseech you, brethren, through the name of our Lord Jesus Christ,
that ye all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you;
but that ye be perfected together in the same mind and in the same judgment.
For it hath been signified unto me concerning you, my brethren, by them that are of Chloe,
that there are contentions among you.
Now this I mean, that each one of you saith, “I am of Paul”;
and “I of Apollos”; and “I of Cephas”; and “I of Christ.”
Is Christ divided?
For years I struggled with this. I thought, “Wait a second, Paul. They were gathering unto Christ. What is wrong with saying, ‘I am of Christ’?” But Paul does not stop and say those people were right.
I want to be extremely careful here, because this can be taken the wrong way. When you speak of “the Christ,” who do you see? Do you see the Lord Jesus Christ? Yes, you should. Yes, we should gather only unto the Lord Jesus Christ.
But I think Paul was trying to get through to the brothers in Corinth that they were taking sides with one another. They were saying, “I am of Apollos. I am of Paul.” What about the Christ who dwells in your brothers and sisters?
You may say, “I gather unto Him, but I do not know if I can have fellowship with that brother. He is a strange bird. I do not know if I can get along with him.” Yet you say, “I gather unto the Lord.” Paul would say, “You are missing the mark.”
Where is the Lord Jesus Christ right now? Yes, He is seated in the heavens by His Father. But where else is He? He is in us—in one another.
Consider 1 Corinthians 12:12-13:
For as the body is one, and hath many members,
and all the members of the body, being many, are one body;
so also is Christ.
For in one Spirit were we all baptized into one body,
whether Jews or Greeks, whether bond or free;
and were all made to drink of one Spirit.
And Romans 12:4-5:
For even as we have many members in one body,
and all the members have not the same office;
so we, who are many, are one body in Christ,
and severally members one of another.
Let us take those verses, instead of putting them only in the context of spiritual gifts, and talk about the body. If the head is separated from the body, is there any life? Not much.
If the cells of the body are scattered in various places, is there any life? If I took the cells of my body and put one in New Jersey, one in California, one in South America, one in the Arctic, and one in the Antarctic, how alive would I be? Not very.
So also is the Christ. There is great significance to this Person to whom we gather. He is King of kings and Lord of lords, and He does stand alone. But He has done something very strange and unique: by the Holy Spirit, He has placed Himself in us and is transforming us into His very character.
We are His body on the face of the earth. By this, the Lord Jesus Christ is in a place to do something He could not do when He physically stood on the earth: He is in multiple places at the same time, dealing with multiple things.
When we assemble together physically—not merely claiming the Lord’s name, but gathering in His name as we are doing here this morning—the body of Christ, at least in part, is seen.
There is the universal body of Christ, which includes all brothers and sisters on the face of the earth, past, present, and future. That is the entirety of the Christ. But it is hard for me to minister to brothers and sisters in China or South America right now.
But I can look out at you, talk to you, and speak to you. You can minister to me, and we can minister to one another. That is why the local assembly, the local gathering, is so precious in the sight of the Lord.
I cannot go back and have a conversation with Paul. Paul fortunately left letters for us, but I cannot talk to him. But I can talk to Kenny, John, Stu, and Mac. I can have a conversation with the brothers and sisters in this assembly. I can tell them what is on my heart and share my hurts, pains, and joys. They can share with me.
This is how we gather unto the Lord Jesus Christ. It is not alone. It was never designed to be that way.
We gather for a purpose, and that purpose has many elements. We gather for the purpose of bearing out a testimony on the face of the earth.
In Hebrews, we read, “Hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering,” and, “All the more as you see the day drawing near.” So I am going to ask a question, and this is not rhetorical: What is the confession of our faith here in Richmond, Virginia?
I heard one brother say, “Christ is the Head, and we gather to Him alone.” That is the confession of faith.
Kenny, I have heard you say several times—and I am not trying to put you on the spot—that this is what you all were called to in the beginning. You saw that Christ was the Head, and you wanted to gather to Him alone. That is the confession of faith given unto this assembly.
Think about something. That confession of faith was given to this assembly before the foundation of the world. God had a plan and a purpose in His Son to give that for us to keep.
The writer of Hebrews tells us to hold fast to our confession of faith, even more as we see the day drawing near. We may see that as the great and terrible day of the Lord, a period when darkness will fall on the face of the earth. But darkness may fall, and great and terrible things may happen, yet it is the great day of the Lord when He will have what He deserves.
It is great and terrible because mankind has made such a mess of this earth and has things so backward. We put ourselves first instead of the Lord Jesus Christ. On that day, every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. They will see Him as He is and understand the purpose for which we were created.
It will be glory unto Him, and it will be glory for us who know Him and gather unto Him for that purpose.
Again, Matthew 18:20 says:
For where two or three are gathered together in My name,
there am I in the midst of them.
Think about that. Here is the King of glory, and as we gather together, He is in our very presence on the face of this earth. What a testimony—to this world and against principalities and powers—that the King of heaven so desires to be with us.
It is not a vast number. It is those two or three gathered in His presence and in His character. We have this testimony for His glory.
Ephesians 3:21 says:
Unto Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus
unto all generations for ever and ever. Amen.
Paul continues in Ephesians 4:
I therefore, the prisoner in the Lord, beseech you to walk worthily of the calling wherewith ye were called,
with all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering,
forbearing one another in love;
giving diligence to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.
There is one body, and one Spirit, even as also ye were called in one hope of your calling;
one Lord, one faith, one baptism,
one God and Father of all, who is over all, and through all, and in all.
There is a testimony that we are to walk in for the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. We already have the unity of the Spirit; our responsibility is to hold on to it.
Let me use something with a negative connotation to reinforce the positive value. In 2 Timothy 4:16-18, Paul says:
At my first defense no one took my part, but all forsook me:
may it not be laid to their account.
But the Lord stood by me, and strengthened me;
that through me the message might be fully proclaimed,
and that all the Gentiles might hear:
and I was delivered out of the mouth of the lion.
The Lord will deliver me from every evil work,
and will save me unto His heavenly kingdom:
to whom be the glory for ever and ever. Amen.
When we read that verse, we glory with Paul in how the Lord came and stood with him. But I have a question: where was the gathering? Where were the people of God?
Paul’s testimony was this: “At my first defense, nobody supported me. All deserted me.” Then he prayed, “May it not be held against them.” Do you hear the heartbreak in Paul as he speaks to Timothy?
Thank God that the Lord stood beside Paul so that the message could be delivered. I believe that, in an almost tangible—if not visible—way, Paul saw the Lord Jesus Christ standing before him at his defense. We say, “Glory.” But why did the Lord Jesus Christ come in that manner?
The answer I received was this: because the saints were not there. “I could not be there through the saints, so I had to come and stand beside Paul in this manner.”
Consider Daniel 10:12-14. Daniel had set his heart to understand the things of the Lord. An angel appeared to him and said, in essence, “From the first day you prayed, the Lord heard you and sent me. But I was detained twenty-one days by the prince of Persia. Michael the archangel came and helped me, and we broke through.”
I have meditated on those verses and asked, “Lord, here is one of Your holy angels, and he was held up twenty-one days by the enemy. What is going on? How can that be?”
Much like Paul’s testimony, I received the same answer: where were the saints? Where were the people of God? Physically, they were in captivity, in Babylon. Furthermore, Babylon was in them. They had decided to settle down and just give in and live that life.
Daniel’s heart was for the Lord and for the things on the Lord’s heart. The Lord’s testimony and heart were about Jerusalem, which was in ruins, and about the things happening among the people of God. Daniel set himself to prayer.
But because the people of God were not there praying with him, there was this great struggle, and a message was delayed for twenty-one days. Are you beginning to see something of the significance of the people of God gathering together for the purposes of God?
In these two illustrations, consider the testimony either gained or lost. Thank God that He stood beside Paul so that the message could be delivered. Thank the Lord that Michael the archangel came so that the message could be delivered.
The Lord’s purposes will not be defeated. But what a loss to the people of God when we do not gather unto Him and when we fail to gather in that way. At times of critical need, there was a critical need in both of these circumstances for the people of God to be there and on their knees before their Lord.
The people of God missed out, and the Lord made special exceptions so that His will could be carried out. Think about that.
What are we gathered for? The writer of Hebrews says, “Let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds.” The word translated stimulate may also be understood as provoke. In the Greek, there is the sense of contending.
Acts 15:39 uses the word in a strong way:
And there arose a sharp contention, so that they parted asunder one from the other:
and Barnabas took Mark with him, and sailed away unto Cyprus.
Paul and Barnabas had a contention against one another, and it became so sharp that they had to depart. Thank the Lord that later Paul called for Mark, so this was not a permanent splitting apart of the people of God; there was a working back together.
But I bring this up for a purpose. We, as the people of God, as we gather together, should be contending for one another—not against one another and not merely with one another. That is a very powerful phrase.
Proverbs 27:17 says:
Iron sharpeneth iron;
so a man sharpeneth the countenance of his friend.
If we gather together in the name of the Lord, that is what we are supposed to be about: contending for one another, not contending with one another. I am not supposed to be arguing with my brothers and sisters; I am supposed to be contending for them.
Romans 15:1-3 says:
Now we that are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak,
and not to please ourselves.
Let each one of us please his neighbor for that which is good, unto edifying.
For Christ also pleased not Himself; but, as it is written,
“The reproaches of them that reproached Thee fell upon Me.”
Galatians 6:1-2 says:
Brethren, even if a man be overtaken in any trespass,
ye who are spiritual, restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness;
looking to thyself, lest thou also be tempted.
Bear ye one another’s burdens,
and so fulfil the law of Christ.
And 1 John 3:16-19 says:
Hereby know we love, because He laid down His life for us:
and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.
But whoso hath the world’s goods,
and beholdeth his brother in need,
and shutteth up his compassion from him,
how doth the love of God abide in him?
My little children, let us not love in word, neither with the tongue;
but in deed and truth.
Hereby shall we know that we are of the truth,
and shall assure our heart before Him.
That is the contention. That is provoking one another to love and good deeds. It is not being busybodies in one another’s lives, and it is certainly not coaching or psychoanalyzing one another.
What are we provoking one another to? Love and good deeds. The love spoken of is the love of the Lord—agape. Only God has this kind of love. And these good deeds are godly deeds.
Jesus said, when He was called “Good Master,” “Why callest thou Me good? None is good save one, even God.” He wanted to know whether the person really understood what he was saying.
So who can produce godly love and godly deeds in one another? I am not qualified. Who is? The Spirit of the living God is. He who resides in us is the iron that sharpens the other iron in each of us. He is the One who produces those good works.
If we contend with anyone in a positive sense, we contend with the Lord for one another. We plead with Him, we beg, we entreat, and we go before the Lord for one another. If we contend against anything, we contend against the enemy.
Paul wrote in Ephesians 6 about the armor of God—how we should take it up, and how we war against principalities and powers. What is it for? Is it so that we can take up the sword of the Lord, have the shield of faith, put on the breastplate, and be Conan the Christian? “I am going to take on the enemy and slay him.” No, that is not it.
Roman soldiers did not go onto the battlefield and fight alone. They would probably have been court-martialed for running into the heat of battle as Conan and trying to cut down the enemy. What happened was that Roman soldiers fought as a unit.
They fought in a unified structure, with interlocking shields. Shield upon shield formed a shield wall. Those behind placed their shields over the heads of those in front, and those on the sides held their shields outward. It was a box—the early tank.
This military structure was so impressive that nothing could defeat a phalanx if it held together. If it stayed together and held, it was impenetrable. The only accounts I know of it being defeated involved Hannibal bringing in elephants. The elephants frightened the Roman soldiers, they broke ranks, and when they broke ranks, it was all over.
Military historians may write me and say that is not the only example, but you get the point. When we gather together as the Lord’s people, we are gathered together for a purpose.
In essence, we are one in Christ, standing in this foreign world because we have been translated into another kingdom—the kingdom of life. We stand in this foreign world, and we dare not be out there alone.
We need one another, brothers and sisters. We have to have one another. More precisely, we have to have that indwelling Spirit of the Lord who is in each of us for one another. That is the way we are to contend for one another.
Not as busybodies, not trying to rule one another’s lives, but in love: provoking one another to godly deeds, allowing the Spirit of God to speak, and strengthening one another.
Lastly, we gather to provide encouragement. John Blanchard put it very well when he spoke on these verses a couple of weeks ago. If you do not remember, go back and listen to what he said about encouragement.
The very word used for encouragement in Hebrews—“encourage one another”—is the same word used for the Holy Spirit. That is the way we should be encouraging one another.
Forgive illustrations from my own life. I have had well-meaning brothers, when I came to them in desperate and dark times, say, “Well, just be a man about it. Stick your chest out, hold your chin up, and walk through this.”
I wonder how much encouragement from the Holy Spirit that was. Well-meaning, but not there.
The encouragement we should give one another as we gather together is encouragement led by the Holy Spirit and from the Holy Spirit—not from our own intellect or understanding.
It reminds me of what the Lord Jesus Christ said about seeing someone hungry and saying, “Be blessed,” then walking away. Or seeing someone cold and saying, “Be warm. Be blessed,” then walking away.
It should be the leading of the Holy Spirit, not some mental exercise that we apply to one another.
We should encourage one another:
For God appointed us not unto wrath,
but unto the obtaining of salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ,
who died for us,
that, whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with Him.
Wherefore exhort one another, and build each other up,
even as also ye do.
—1 Thessalonians 5:9-11
I am past my time, but may I have a few minutes to sum this up?
When we gather together in this place, is it by happenstance that we come here? Is it by chance?
I want to suggest something to you, brothers and sisters: we have been chosen. The Lord Jesus Christ chose each one of us who is gathered here for a reason. I strongly believe that He chose us before the foundation of the world to be right here, in this place, for this purpose.
It was part of His plan. It is in the character of His Person, and it is for His purposes that He has called us here.
Do you see the significance of gathering together in these days? Do you understand what it means to the Lord and what it means to one another to be so gathered?
I hope that by sharing this, you get a glimpse that gathering together is not a meeting. It is not a meeting that you go to. It is who we are. We are the called-out ones.
One of my favorite things, unfortunately, as a young pastor was to look at the congregation and say, “You cannot go to church. Go outside, call to this building, and see if it moves. It is not going anywhere.”
We are a people called. That is the meaning of church. We are called-out people, called out of this world to be gathered unto the Lord Jesus Christ—unto Him alone.
But that does not mean that we are individuals alone. It means He wants a people gathered into His name for His purposes and for His good pleasure. Do you see the significance of what is going on here?
The writer of Hebrews wrote this two thousand years ago, and we see that day drawing near very quickly. We see the things going on in the world and ask, “How can all this be going on?”
He wrote these verses for this very period of time in which you and I live: that we would be a people who do not forsake the assembling and gathering of ourselves together, but who come together, hold fast the confession, and recognize that He who promised is faithful.
We are to provoke one another in the correct way—to godly love and godly good deeds—and to encourage one another all the more as we see the day drawing near. We will need one another in these days.
To the world, dark days are coming because they do not understand the purpose. But for us, glorious days are coming, because our King is coming and He is returning soon.
So let us be a people who gather together unto Him.
Father, thank You that You sent Your Son so that we could be a people—not scattered to and fro, not merely individuals—but a people who can gather unto Your very name.
Lord, thank You that we can be a people who come into Your very presence, who enter into the holy place together before Your presence. We acknowledge that it is only by Jesus Christ and His work. It is not us.
His shed blood forgave us our sins. His broken body rent the veil, that we may gather.
Lord, help us and encourage us through Your Spirit, that we may be a people who gather unto You, who desire to enter that holy place and be in Your presence together, Lord—not sitting home alone when we could be here.
Lord, help us earnestly to desire being with Your people, because when we are with Your people, we are with You. Help us to have a burden for this in this year and the years to come, especially as we see the day drawing near.
We ask this in Your name and for Your purposes, for the glory of Your Son. Amen.